"Interference Fits"

Captured Tracks

Artists:

"Say yes to love" is a benevolent mantra—it would fit well between "Cry in public" and "Resist psychic death" in this one anti-oppressive punk manifesto that has been so well-loved since the 1990s. But these four little words are more conflicted when they arrive on "Interference Fits", the impressionistic center-piece from the debut LP by Syracuse noise-punk band Perfect Pussy. This is the point at which Perfect Pussy have most effectively captured the widescreen vision of ecstatic, personal-political dream-punk they seemed to have in them last year. A sense of longing hovers about; a slow-cranked guitar riff pulls in full washes of light.

"I never wanted any children," Meredith Graves sings with a wistful tinge of sadness while still acting as the group's unhinged positive force: that is an intense opening line for a 26-year-old. The song's words are hard to decipher, but the music audibly grapples with big-question life changes that come along as you stare down your late 20s. Graves describes a former desire for domestic bliss, a sort of matrimonial conflictedness with "Conversations of churches!/ And veils!/ And wives!", screaming with increased emotional vigor. The words that do come into focus here are especially powerful, as if mirroring, in form, an inner-struggle for clarity and strength. "When did we all decide to give up?" Graves shouts fiercely at the song's peak. "Since when do we say yes to love?" This is Perfect Pussy's testament of tenacity and perserverance; visceral proof that when you harness your own existence, love and freedom are not mutually exclusive.